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Let the Bulgine Run

[ Roud 810 ; Ballad Index LoF029 ; trad.]

The Watersons sang the hauling shanty Let the Bulgine Run in 1964 in an early live performance. This recording was included in 2004 on their 4 CD anthology Mighty River of Song. According to Stan Hugill's Shanties from the Seven Seas, ‘bulgine’ is American slang for a railway engine.

Ray and Archie Fisher sang Let the Bulgine Run at a folk concert at Edinburgh Usher Hall that was released in 1964 too on the Waverley LP Folk Festival.

Jolly Jack sang Clear the Track and Let the Bulgine Run in 1983 on their Fellside album Rolling Down to Old Maui.

Dave Webber sang The Bulgine Shanty in 1993 on his and Anni Fentiman's album Together Solo. They noted:

The shanty ranks among Dave’s favourites and is well documented in Stan Hugill’s Shanties from the Seven Seas. The word Bulgine is said to originate from the Negro word for engine or bull engine.

Johnny Collins with Dave Webber and Pete Watkinson sang Eliza Lee in 1996 on their album Shanties & Songs of the Sea.

Bellowhead sang this shanty as Let Her Run in 2014 on their CD Revival. They commented in their liner notes:

Adapted from the hauling shanty Let the Bulgine Run, ‘bulgine’ being slang for ‘engine’. There are many variants of this song under many names such as Eliza Lee or Clear the Track including, bizarrely, a music hall version with Biblical verses.

Lyrics

Acknowledgements

Transcribed by Reinhard Zierke with the first verse and the chorus copied from the Digital Tradition.